Couple reminders with the upcoming extreme temperature drop! First and foremost, DO NOT make any huge changes to your horses’ diets or routines! This is not the time to make changes. That also means do not increase your horses grain feeding rate! Stress from these sudden changes can be risk factors for colic.
When the temperatures are well below your horses’ thermal neutral zone, make sure your horse has hay in front of them 24’7. Constantly consuming hay creates more metabolic heat during digestion. This means your horse will be warm from the inside out. Also keep the same type of hay that they are used to eating! Don’t change the hay type and don’t introduce round bales for the first time.
Blanket horses if they are clipped, very young or old, no access to shelter and if there is a chance of rain, ice, and/or freezing rain. Make sure blankets are fitted properly. Poorly fitted blankets can cause more harm than good. Remove your blankets every other day, if not daily, to assess the horses body condition as well as make sure the blanket isn’t damaged. As most know, Never ever put a blanket on a wet horse.
Don’t make major changes to their routines. If your horse is not used to being in a stall, now is not the time to put them in a stall. On the flip side, make sure your horse is getting out of their stall to move around. Even if it’s for a couple hours, movement will help decrease the risk of colic.
Make sure your horse has access to clean, drinkable water. If you’re using electric water heaters, make sure that they are in good working condition and not shocking horses when they go to drink. Entice your horse to consume more water by adding plain table salt or electrolytes to their feed. You can also increase water consumption by soaking their meals in warm water or adding plain soaked beet pulp to their meals, if you think they will eat it. Make sure that you are removing all the ice out the stall buckets before filling them back up with water. Icey buckets are at risk for re-freezing quickly.
Stay warm everyone!
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